WTF!
Where did this white shit come from??? I wake up. I pee. I look outside. I was flummoxed. White shit everywhere. Maybe an inch tops, but as cold as it is I may be forced to drive in to work today. Dammit. I think The Mrs Legend is behind this. She’s probably been saving a huge pile of white shit at The Legend compound and decided to sneak over here on her way to work this morning to spread white shit all over my barrio. Sonzabitches.

Real quick. Two great actors have passed on over the weekend. Mr. Furley aka Barney Fife aka Mr. Limpet(Don Knotts) and Ralphie’s dad(Darren McGavin) from A Christmas Story. Don Knotts was great. Funny dude. Funny looking dude. The Andy Griffith Show is one of those old time TV Land shows I will stop and watch when I’m flipping through the channels. Good stuff. And who doesn’t love A Christmas Story(exception-Erin’s mom)? Most people could just about quote the entire movie but Old Man Parker, IMO, was the class of that movie. Ralphie and Randy were good but their Dad was great.


I have a cold. It’s not going away. I have stubbornly eschewed drugs. My nose has been constantly leaking. Slight sore throat. A little ear ache when I’m outside. Nothing major. I finally had enough last night. The Wifey fed me drugs. I have always hated cold drugs because they make you drowsy and dry you up to a point that’s as uncomfortable as the cold itself. But, I slept well and I feel like a million bucks - minus some loose change - this morning.

Less than two weeks until……

Twelve episodes this season and eight beginning next January. Then it’s done. That will suck. So much happened in season 5. Adriana, gone. Cousin Tony, gone. Johnny Sack, the gray bar hotel for him. But what will happen over the next twenty episodes? Subject to debate. Anyone? Thoughts?

#2. late.

love the ride

My commute to work is pretty quick and fun. It’s only 4.5 miles. 15 minutes going in. 16 or 17 coming home. Fairly rolling but more uphillish coming home. The last two tenths is a wall. A good way to finish.

It’s no secret how much I hate the white shit. And so far this winter I(we?) have been pretty fortunate there hasn’t been more of it. Snow and ice can really wreck my ride. Maybe that’s partly why I hate it so much. So, I’ve been keeping a tally of my commuting days so far this year. I’ve worked 36 days so far. I’ve driven to work only 1 of those days. I’ve been picked up only once, last Friday when Erin and I had to make quick and get to the rehearsal dinner. I drove the shop van home on a Tuesday night to drive it down to Trek U on a Wednesday then drove it back to work on a Thursday. If you count one commuting day as 2 trips I’ve achieved 67 out of a possible 72 trips. I guess you could say this winter has been pretty tame by most measures.

I’ve been riding some form of bike since I was probably 6 or 7. When I was growing up in East Berlin, PA I rode around town on my sweet ‘Goose bmx’r. I rode all the time. During the summer I would be on my bike all day long. It is a cool town to cruise the streets. Not very big. Just big enough when you’re a little mx punk. Me and my bike buds had two tracks to race. One was almost a real bmx track. In the woods behind the elementary school. We had jumps and banked berms on it. The other track was an oval. All the guys were dirt trackin sprint car fans so it was no surprise we raced our bikes sprint car style too. Good fun. But most of the time it was just rolling the mean streets of EB. Look for trouble. Never finding any. Getting yelled at when I came home well after dark.

I think riding home at night is so much fun. It takes me back to those days in EB. Although I didn’t have a digital Niterider back then. Zinging around through the streets of Camp Hill now but not much different from EB. Tonight was especially sweet. There is a very odd series of intersections all tied together. Going home I come to a light, make a right over a humpback bridge, immediately hit another light, make a right, immediately hit another light, make a left, and over railroad tracks. Most nights I can make it through somewhat fluidly with a little braking and trackstanding. Tonight the planets aligned. First right turn, green light. Over the humpback, right turn green arrow. Left turn green arrow. As soon as I rolled across the RR tracks the gates lit up and started to drop. I did a two handed victory celebration. Must of looked like a ‘tard but it felt like I won something.

Riding at night always gives you a different perspective on things you see in the daylight. Shadows and moonlight or no moonlight. Everything is different. Sometimes I’ll turn my light off and ride by light of the moon. I recommend it.

If you haven't looked at The Original Jack Ass blog make sure you do so. One of the funniest dog pictures you'll ever see. Isn't there some expression out there about dogs and their owners looking alike? Nice work Josh.

Incredible sports action!

I just spent the last 45 minutes on the edge of my seat(couch) watching the Mighty Finn’s knock off the Canadians in some thrilling old time hockey. Philly Flyer and Finland goalie Antero Nittymaki shut ‘em down. Brilliant stuff. Oh yeah, there’s a bunch of ‘necks rolling around a giant oval playing bumper cars. Yawn. I couldn’t really sum up just how little I care anymore about Neckcar until I sat down to try and watch it. Yawn. I’m almost saddened by it really. I feel a little weird. I mean, I really once devoted large blocks of days towards Neckcar. Have I awakened from a 15yr slumber?

The lovely and beautiful Mrs K is whipping up some cookies. Choco chip w/ coconut and some other kinda nut. Not sure but these were a HUGE hit during the Xmas season.

Speaking of redneck. Last night was my sisters big wedding. Loads of fun. A very good time. I helped her keep the costs down by doubling as Brother of the Bride and also Wedding Photog. My digi cam is crap so Erin borrowed her Uncle Jimmy’s Canon Digital Rebel EOS. What a friggin awesome camera! Anyway, I shot almost 400 pictures for her to deal with. I was using all my technical gadgetry. It was a thing of beauty. I bought my wireless laptop just before Xmas. I loaded the Canon software on to the lapper. We headed down to Hampton, PA with a bag full of goodies. My Canon camera, the DigiRebel, a pile of USB cables/battery rechargers, and my lapper. The plan was to take as many pics as the memory card would allow and then download unto the lapper and start over. As soon as I got there I set up everything in a side room and immediately tried to test the operation. I snapped a couple quick pics and tried to download but realized I forgot the software disc that would guide me through the first download. I needed the driver(on the disc) that would allow the lapper to communicate with the camera. I tried to find a wireless internet connection inside the building but no dice. I figured the lapper was out of the question at that point so I’d just have to take less pictures than I’d hoped. With about 45 minutes to go before the wedding was to begin I had already used up half the memory card so I started to panic again. I told The Wifey I was going to get in my truck and drive around until I found a wireless connection. Now let me tell you a little something about Hampton. For those of you who know, you know. You could walk from one edge of town(it’s actually a village) to the other in under 5 minutes. Really small. I had no real hope of success but wouldn’t you know as soon as I got in my truck and opened my laptop I searched for a signal and immediately found one. I downloaded the driver I needed and voila, I was in business. Sweet! For the rest of the night I was able to take pictures with reckless abandon and download to the lapper when full. The moral of this story is easy. I embrace technology with a bear hug.

My favorite picture of the night

Followed by my second favorite(27)

We got home a little after 9pm and went straight to bed. I was pretty wiped out. Today sucked for the most part. Cold as an icebox outside. No real reason to be out. I don’t think the mercury ever even got a sniff of 32 degrees. I wonder how The Legend made out on his team ride this afternoon?

More sports. Back to the Olympics. Could anyone care less about these jerk-off American Olympians like that Bode douchbag or that Jacobellis snowboard chick who hotdogged on the way to a gold and ate shit and ended up second. Maybe her Visa Check card tripped her up. Sometimes it’s easy to see why American’s are so easy to hate if you live somewhere else. I did love watching the Nordic xc skiing last weekend. Definitely the hockey has been good. Curling is ok when the chicks are cute but otherwise what’s the point? More like a beer drinking activity much in the same vein as croquet or bowling or even this(memo to self: why do I ride when I could be doing that?).

The pro cycling scene is well under way now. A now steady flow of results on cyclingnews.com. Add that to the morning routine. CX season wrapped up today. I can’t wait until this fall.

Late.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Shits

This is my humble abode. Covered in white shit. Seems like a typical winter picture. But, let me point just a few subtleties out to you.

• First I hate snow. Erin loves it. Runs in the family I guess. If you gander at the empty carport and the freshly shoveled driveway you’ll notice Erin’s car is gone and the tire tracks she left behind high-tailing it out of here before any shovels were busted out. Yeah yeah, I’m the man, I shovel, I get it, blah blah, blah.
• Secondly, you can’t see it but in the front window all the way to the right you will find my faithful little sidekick Elwood laughing his kitty ass off at me as I shoveled said driveway. As many of you know, cats are your best friend when they’re hungry, otherwise all is fair game.
• Another thing you won’t notice but you can bet it’s happening as this picture was taken. Amy(The Mrs Legend) is most likely calling my house for the third time in 12 hours to bust my chops about all this white shit that landed on us. I haven’t checked the answering machine(never do anyway) yet but a betting man would lay good odds on it. No offense to The Legend but I hope your snow blower is dead…..and you make Amy help shovel…..in her bare precious little crooked feet.

Last night Erin and I went out to eat at this neat little joint called 2201 in the Boro. It’s a block away from HCF. El Jefe gave us a gift certificate for xmas so last night we braved the white shit and had a fantastic meal. We picked up a bottle of shirah for drinkage enjoyment. For an app we had grilled portabella ‘shrooms with asstd other veggies. I love portabellas. I love grilled veggies. I would have been content eating a giant platter of that all night. Very tastey. For the entrée Erin had a salmon fillet with mango salsa. Looked good. I had linguini with chicken and shrimp. The very first bite I knew I was in the presence of greatness. It was pretty incredible. I rarely eat an entire entrée but it was so damn good I couldn’t stop eating. I was stuffed but every one of the desserts would have been a go for me. Two thumbs way up.

There is a good bit of NASCAR on today. There was a time when I would not miss a single lap of racing action but I tell you, I just don’t have the same passion for it anymore. I don’t know that I can put a finger on exactly when or why I’m not a huge fan anymore. There isn’t one driver that I can root for. I guess there are a few I can root against. ‘Ol Peter Puffer would be at the top of that list. When I was a huge fan there was no one I rooted for more than The Intimidator. And that may answer why I can’t get into it like I once did. It’s hard to believe it’s been 5yrs since that dreadful day. Say what you want about The King but in my opinion no one made more of a difference on and off the track than Dale Earnhardt. The man was a Bad-Ass. End of discussion. It doesn’t help that most of today’s young drivers are a bunch of punks and most of your older good guys(Awesome Bill, Rudd, Jarrett, Rusty, etc.) are retired or headed that way. It’s probably one reason I’ve gotten skinny. Years ago I would wake up on a Sunday morning and eat a pound of bacon along with 9 eggs(slight exaggeration) and wait for the racin to start. Then I’d sit on my lard ass and jam a bag of chips and a pint of ice cream down my cake-hole. Now I’m out riding for a couple three hours on a Sunday morning/afternoon then maybe I’ll catch the last 10-20 laps. Whatever.

Pleasant day to you all. Enjoy your white shit.

The Sky is Shitting

I hope all you white shit loving rejects are happy. Take great joy in my misery as I drift into an altered state of reality. Suckers.

More blaaah

Man I hate winter. It just seems like nothing much happens or if something half interesting does happen I don’t feel like saying much about it. Being cold has a way of sucking the life outta me.

So today Seve and I rolled down to the Charm City to attend Trek U. it’s pretty much just a slick way of getting bike shop employees out of the shop and into a hotel conference room for a day. It’s a waste of time for the most part. As long as I’ve worked in the bike industry it’s difficult to attend something like this and learn or hear something new. It’s also brutal to ask someone who stands and moves around a lot in a typical day to sit down for 8hrs. Days like today make my ADD blatantly obvious. I was going bonkers. I passed the time by eating approx 9 choc/peanut butter chip cookies and 4 Diet Cokes. In the afternoon when the discussion hit the Trek comfort bikes I had had enough so I split and cruised the shoppes in and around the hotel. There was a Williams & Sonoma nearby. Neat place. Tremendously overpriced stuff but they do have some cool cooking goodies. Anyway, I did that for about an hour or so until Trek U was wrapping up. For being good attendees we all received a t-shirt and a Trek beanie. Just what I need. Another t-shirt.

I did learn something cool about Trek’s plans for the future. Or at least one of their plans. Look for them to get into custom bikes. More than just Project One stuff. I’m talking custom geometry type stuff. Pretty incredible stuff considering the crazy costs of OCLV carbon frames as it is. Also consider that The Man rode off the shelf bikes for all 7. Obviously he got all the cool new stuff long before we, the consumers, ever saw it but everything he rode was stock. Sounds like they will be revamping the LeMond line a little next year. That should be fun because my last and current road sleds are LeMonds. After ‘ol Greg blasted Lance a couple years ago it wasn’t a stretch to imagine Trek not renewing their agreement with LeMond and perhaps moving towards an Armstrong brand of bikes or something along those lines. Not to be, at least not in the foreseeable future. I don’t think I heard anything about Klein at all today. Wonder where that’s headed?

The Wifey and I are getting our taxes done tomorrow. We’re hoping for a decent enough return to rip the carpet out of our house and getting the hardwood floors refinished. I’m crossing my fingers.

V-day is fast approaching. I suppose I need to do a little shopping this weekend. Didn’t I just have to go to the mall something like a week ago for xmas? Whomever comes up with these shopping holidays needs to reconsider where they land on the calendar. Two visits to the mall in two months is downright awful. Mrs K has been getting a box of Truffles the past few years which I know she loves but I need a little something else. Dunno. I hate shopping. Yo Mrs Legend. Could I just give you a twenty and have you pick something up for your Cuz when you go shopping this weekend? Save me the hassle.

Bon voyage.